THE PROMISE
by Magenta Moonshadow
Summary: This vignette is set just after Darth Maul falls down the shaft in 'The Phantom Menace'...


This is probably finished...I might tweak it a bit at a later date, but at the moment, I feel it's as complete as I can make it...

Title: "THE PROMISE"

Author: Magenta Moonshadow

Timeframe: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (The Phantom Menace)

Category: MEGA Angst!

Characters: Obi Wan and Qui Gon

This vignette is set just after Darth Maul falls down the shaft in TPM...

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters- they belong to George Lucas! All the usual disclaimers apply! I'm just making sandcastles on George's beach...

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**"THE PROMISE"**

Hate is an emotion that we Jedi are supposed to rise above, but I will freely admit to hating that Sith Lord with every atom of my being. It may not be the Jedi way - I **KNOW** it is not the Jedi way - but at this moment I would willingly curse him and consign him to face the utter darkness of eternal damnation, and all that comes after.

And, more than this, I would even escort him to the fiery black gates of whatever hell he was spawned from, and cast him into it myself if it were permitted. But I do not stop to watch him tumble all the way to the bottom of the melting-pit shaft, his body cut in two by the fury of the lightsaber which I had wielded in anger and blind rage.

Instead, I race to my Master, to where he lays on the cold, hard floor, gravely injured. I gently cradle him in my arms. He is still alive, but only just. No! He cannot die! I don't want to believe that this is happening! Qui Gon cannot die, not like this!

**"There is NO death, there is the Force..."** From somewhere deep within the very essence of my soul, the closing words of the Jedi Code seep gently into a corner of my conscious mind. I repeat the mantra to myself, over and over, but the words ring hollow in my ears.

_"It is too late..." _my Master whispers, his voice is faint, his brave, noble face not showing the agony he must be enduring. I shake my head in anguished denial. "No!"

Yet even as I say it, I know I am going to lose him. An icy chill grips my heart and spreads through my body, turning my blood to ice. I feel sick and dizzy.

The realisation slams in to me with a sickening thud - I **am** going to lose him! The man I have loved as a father will be taken from me. His injuries are too great, too many. I can see where the Sith lightsaber has ripped through skin and seared through muscle and bone, mortally injuring my beloved Master. His physical body will be unable to retain the life-force for much longer. He is dying...

Through our shared bond, his Force-signature touches mine, and I can feel him growing weaker, leaving me.

We have been together for so long, and he has taught me so much. We have shared so much over many years, we have fought side by side as comrades, and as brothers in the Force, but now he is going alone, somewhere, somewhere deep into the very heart of the Force - and this time...this time I can not go with him. Not yet...

He tries to speak again, but each word only comes out in a whisper. He is so very, very weak. I have to listen carefully to catch his words, they are so fragile, so precious...

_"Obi Wan, promise...promise me... you'll train the boy..." _

"Yes, Master..." I whisper back, the words catching in my throat. At that moment, I would have promised him anything. ANYTHING.

I can't help it, hot tears start to come, unbidden, to my eyes. They roll down my face. They are salty and stinging, and I unashamedly let them fall. It is also not the Jedi way, to show emotion - but there is no-one here to disapprove and my grief is so strong that I would not care if there were. There is no-one else here to see me weep, except for Qui Gon. And my tears are for him alone.

My Master raises his hand to my face. He has seen my tears, and so, gently touching my cheek, he tries to brush them away. I sense his unspoken thoughts through our Force-bond: _Don't cry, Obi Wan. Please don't cry. I will always be with you_...

It takes a great effort, but with his last fragment of strength, he speaks once more. His voice is very faint now, as though it already comes from somewhere a long, long way from here - very far away...: _"He is...the chosen one...he will...bring balance...train him..." _

His eyes close for the last time, and I gently cradle him close to me.

In the next heartbeat, through our bond, I sense his mighty spirit leave his broken body far behind, as the Force, which he had humbly and unquestioningly served all his life, receives him back into Itself once more.

I clutch him to me again, and I find myself trembling uncontrollably as I hold him in my arms. I never want to let him go. I rock him backwards and forwards, my eyes now blinded by my tears, as I silently spill my pain and sorrow out into the eternal ocean of the Force.

Now all I hear is the sound of my own heart, thudding loudly in my chest. But my heart is surely broken, so why does it still beat?

**The End**


End file.
